FALL RIVER — The rollover of tractor-trailer truck that had been carrying gasoline and the fire near Route 24 led to snarled traffic and several home evacuations for a few hours Monday morning.

Those in the vicinity of the explosion and subsequent fire, which occurred around 7 a.m., reported hearing anywhere from one to four booms, according to onlookers who viewed emergency personnel through the woods that separates the football field at Bishop Connolly High School and Route 24.

When the fire was burning most intensely, "it was billowing above the trees." reported Ken Travis, a truck driver for the city's Department of Public Works. Black smoke could be seen billowing into the sky several miles away from the site of the fire.

Travis said, with his large yellow city waste hauling truck parked on nearby Wilson Road, that he had been en route to Fall River's landfill.

However, he and other motorists sat at a standstill for nearly three hours, until law enforcement redirected traffic the opposite direction, onto Interstate 195.

For much of the morning, both sides of Route 24 were closed. City police cruisers blocked entry from the rotary onto Route 24. An officer at the scene said law enforcement was taking precautions in case there were additional explosions.

Other police cruisers blockaded nearby residential streets, including Meridian Street, due to concerns over the fire's heavy black smoke.

Frank M. Silvia Elementary School was already closed to students because of a scheduled professional development day, said Superintendent Meg Mayo-Brown. Around 8 a.m., after receiving word of the fire and evacuations school administrators decided to move that professional development session to B.M.C. Durfee High School.

By 10 a.m., homeowners were allowed to drive back to their homes. By about 11 a.m., that voluntary evacuation completely was lifted.

By noon, most travel restrictions were lifted, with the right travel and breakdown lanes on Route 24's northbound side still closed, according to Massachusetts State Police.

"It was scary," said Wendy Medeiros, a manager at New York Bagel Co., near the rotary at the corner of President Avenue and Elsbree Street.

Medeiros said she and store employees were informed that a truck had rolled over, causing the fire.

However, before that, "we were worried that the fire was at BCC or Bishop Connolly," Medeiros said.